Vigor of Twelve is a play off of the fact that Jesus had twelve disciples. It is a name that helps stress an importance on discipleship. This blog is specifically geared for younger people and mature Christians who don't mind a fresh, bold, and blunt approach to faith. Comments welcome, let's begin the discussion!

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Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Luke 15:11-13

Luke 15:11-13

And He said, “A certain man was having two sons. And the younger son said to his father, ‘Father,
give to me the portion of possessions that belongs to me.’ And he divided his life among them. And after not too many days, after the
younger son gathered all of his things, he went away into a far-away land. And there he scattered his goods while living
recklessly.”

Thoughts
for Today

First Thought:

Can you hear the arrogance in the words of the son? Give to me the portion that belongs to
me. First of all, notice the imperative
mood. The son is commanding around the
father. That shows a distinct lack of respect. Second, do you hear the entitlement? The Son says that it belongs to him. How is that, exactly? Just because someone is born by parents doesn’t
give them a right to their possessions.
An inheritance is given, not due!
We can learn so much from this young man about how easy arrogance and
entitlement slips into our life.

Are you arrogant anywhere in your life? Where do you command when you shouldn’t? Do you ever feel entitled when you shouldn’t? How do you manage those feelings?

Second Thought:

As we’re looking at the son, notice that after he gets his
income – we’re going to ignore the father’s choice to actually listen to his
son – he leaves. He has gotten what he
wants and figures it is time to move on.
This is actually something we can learn as we grow in our ability to
evaluate ourselves. When we find
ourselves wanting to hide and go away from the people who know us well enough
to hold us accountable, we’re about to do something bad. It’s the old adage. If someone feels the need to hide something
they’re doing, have done, or are about to do, then the action is probably not a
good one! The fact that the son leaves
shows us that he’s just not planning anything healthy.

Have you ever gone into hiding so that you can live your
life as you want it? Why aren’t you
fooling anyone when you do this? Why
aren’t you fooling God, either?

Third Thought:

Today we are going to leave this
parable with proof of the earlier thought.
The son goes away to a foreign land and lives recklessly. But notice what happens in the story. Because he has abandoned his accountability,
he squanders his goods. He has nobody to
help him look at what he’s doing until it’s too late.

Have you ever lost something completely
through your own foolishness because you didn’t have someone holding you
accountable? Who are your accountability
people in life? Why are they
important? What can make accountability
hard to accept at times?